I recently read Seth Godin’s account of dealing with Verizon Wireless customer service.  He speaks about dealing with two, three, four plus people on the phone to get his problem solved.  Perhaps, I have been extremely lucky, perhaps I have been well informed about what I need done, or perhaps the company is dying and is trying to reverse their theory about customer service so they don’t get their asses handed to them.

I, personally have had very few problems with Sprint.  I can’t speak for others I know, my friends went through six different people and several hours of her time to try and get a problem solved.  The very same problem that I called about for her, received timely help, and had fixed in no more than 15 minutes.

By all means, gasp away, because in most cases if I need to contact customer service, I am in and out, problem resolved in less than half an hour.  How you may say?  All you have to do is become as smart as the person you are dealing with.

I learned a long time ago that I don’t like frustration.  I hated trying to explain to someone my problems that I knew little about.  It was efficient for me, and it made them guess at what I wanted accomplished.  This goes for everything in life, not just customer service at your wireless provider.  Here is how you become as smart as the person you are dealing with: research.

In today’s world, you can minimize your time with the customer service people by being knowledgeable.  If your phone spits out an error, quickly enter it into Google with keywords like your phones make and model along with the world ‘help’ or ‘problem.’  Many times you may find an answer on how to fix your issue right then and their.  Other times, you get a name for your problem.  In the case of my friend, she was not able to access the internet on her phone, completely voiding her unlimited data plan.  When she would talk on the phone with the people at Sprint, she would tell them that the internet on her phone was not working.  Naturally they assume she wants to go through a wireless hot-spot.  Her plan entitled her to be able to use the internet anywhere, anytime.  Five minutes of research on my part produced that Sprint calls this function PCS Vision.  When I called customer service up, I said my friend has been having problems with connecting with PCS Vision making her data plan useless, how can this be remedied?

A minute or two later, I am taking the battery out of the phone, the lady on the other end is remotely updating the software, I put the battery back in, press some buttons, it works and I’m asking her to dinner next Friday to show my gratitude.  Well, all but the last part.  The point is, if you make yourself intelligent about your situation–five minutes of research, ten if you’re feeling arrogant or haven’t received something solid–can save you tens of minutes or hours, if not the embarrassment of stumbling through your problem with six different people.

Try to become knowledgeable.  Speak in their terms if at all possible.  Be polite, courteous, and respectful–they will like you and be easier to deal with.  Finally, if you get someone who is obviously a moron, you have the choice to end it and call back (make sure you get his name so when he answers you can call again), or you can ask to be transferred to someone higher, politely.

I was having some trouble figuring out how to add a single RSS feed to Feedly today, so I thought I would make a write up about how one can do it.  First lets find a feed that we want to add.  I like Design You Trust so I will get their feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/dyt

Alright, now that you have the URL, feedly works off of Google Reader.  I had never used Google Reader in my life but it looks like Feedly just makes it prettier.  Anyway, go into Google Reader normally (http://www.google.com/reader/) and then on the left side, click “Add Subscription,” it is in a green highlighted box. Paste your link and click “Add.”

Good, now you just need to add it to Feedly.  If you are prompted to, go ahead and add it to the folder called “z.feedly.seeded”  and you can also add it to the subcategory where you would like it to appear in Feedly; for example, Thinkers, Auto, Web Dev, et cetera.  In this case, I am going to add it to design.

If you were not prompted to put it in a folder right away, or just happened to navigate away from that option.  Just click on the “Settings” link in the upper right corner, click on the “Subscriptions” tab, and find your feed.  Use the drop down menu to add it to “z.feedly.seeded” and then the subcategory of your choice.

Wait a minute or two for Feedly to find your feed and show it in unread material.  Enjoy.

EDIT

Thanks to Edwin Khodabakchian, one of the Feedly software developers for pointing out that you can also add a feed to Feedly by visiting the website and waiting for a +f to appear in the far right side of your address bar.

What’s more important in the internet social world?  Blogging or tweeting?  I am struggling with this concept when it comes to sharing.  Obviously if you blog about something and people like it, they will continue to read, respond and visit.  But if you tweet about something, it can also be followed, linked, and create a massive chain reaction that can lead to just as much publicity.

The reason that I am struggling over this is because I have stumbled across Feedly and it is blowing my mind.  Do I share it through twitter–I am sure it is being shared already–yes, I just checked with summize.  But, it doesn’t look to be that big yet, so I will share it on both.

Feedly, much like Netvibes, pulls information and presents it to you in a beautiful manner, almost like a magazine.  It also allows your friends to comment and reccomend articles for you.  The soft, easy to use layout is simplistic yet enjoyable, allowing for content presentation customization.  Feedly truly is amazing, but only works with Firefox 3.  Definately try it.

Five days shy of a month ago, I posted some goals.  To keep on track, I am going to make myself accountable to you.  Here are the goals (reposted)–I put a two month time limit on them–and what I have accomplished.

1. Make a portfolio of art that will get me accepeted into another college.

I submitted my portfolio to RIT on the 6th, it went into evaluation on the 9th.  I talked to an advisor today, she said I will know in a week or two.

2. Read three more books about investing/business.  Read as many books as I want for pleasure.

I have completed one book on business by Robert Kiyosaki and am now reading a book by Ken McElroy on investing in Real Estate.  For pleasure, I have read Lirael, the book after Sabriel in a trilogy by Garth Nix.  I started Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood last evening.
3. Put another 30 hours into drawing to improve my skills.

Between the homework and out of class projects, I think I have racked up 30 hours.  I lose incentive when I don’t have to do it for a grade.
4. Do another 10 photoshop tutorials.

I am suffering in this category, I have only done one tutorial.
5. Read more about / do more web layout.

I was investigating MooTools for my new site design, I however, don’t know enough about javascript. I should learn more and am trying to convince myself that I feel like it.
6. Design a new layout for my site.

I really wish I could get MooTools to work, then I would have a lot of incentive. I have been messing around with ColourLovers.com to get possible color schemes.
7. Get a job???  If it is possible — but honestly I am learning so much with out one right now.

I don’t have a job yet, I am mowing my friends lawn and working for an old lady part time.
8. Do more work on my car in order to learn more.

Besides checking tire pressures and making sure my tires are tight, I have not yet done any work on my car.  I do think more oil will be necessary soon, but that isn’t really hard.
9. Take a trip to Philadelphia and Baltimore.  Not on the same weekend like last week.

I took a trip to Baltimore on Sunday with my friends Josh and Kenny.  We saw the Orioles play the Pirates, although we left early and spent little time in Baltimore outside the stadium.  I wish I could have wandered around more.  I am not even sure who won the game?  Anyone know?
10. Cook dinner for my parents once a week to help out.

Sadly lacking on this one, does picking up takeout count?
11. Run errand with my grandmothers.

I am completing this one a bit one sided, but I still have time.  I did wash my one grandmothers car and take the other out for some errands and lunch.

In my studies this summer, I have been trying to stay motivated.  I would just like to say thanks to Adam Hake for the motivation he gives me to learn.  I know I haven’t talked to him in person for almost a year, but when we were in school together he was always studying something on his own–because he was curious.  So thanks for the inspiration to learn, I aspire to your study habbits and inquisitive nature.

I woke up this morning and went down to breakfast.  The potatoes had already been fried and the question of “who wants eggs?” was floating around.  I passed, got some potatoes and orange juice, and quickly went on my way.  I turned on my computer, not knowing what I intended to do, so I started by downloading the newest version of FireFox that has been accosting me for the past two days.

I then had the sudden urge to play Dungeon Siege–a game that I have never made it through and typically uninstalled from my computer after a weekend jaunt with it.  I immediately began looking for it in the typical places; a box here full of old games, a draw their.  Through my searches, I found games like Black and White, Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Rollercoaster Tycoon and several others.  I felt my heart reach out to them, longing to play them once again, because here’s the deal.  Recently, and I mean in the past four or five years, I haven’t found a game that is really worth playing.  Sure I have invested several hundred hours into Counter Strike Source, but that doesn’t have the plot line that Black and White had.  When you are done with CS:S, you can just walk away feeling satisfied for the moment.  In some games you itch until you can build the next city, destroy the next wizard or achieve the next level.

I have found nothing in recent years that has held my attention as long as some of the older games.  Maybe this is because games are becoming more sophisticated, but less at the same time.  Instead of the user having to be smart, games like Guild Wars guide you through it with a group of people.  The combined intelligence greatly overpowers the game’s simple track of play.  Games like CS:S you point, click, and shoot.  Sure you have to work on a team, but there really is no challenge to the game play.  Atleast in B&W and NWN you had puzzles, challenges, AI that was intelligent, replay value because their were multiple different paths that you could take.  It was a lot better.

So I beg the video game producers to come out with a game that you didn’t just slap together, something that isn’t a rip off of a former title like the first release of NWN2.  Something that we don’t have to pay for monthly like WoW.  Basically make Guild Wars with NWN interface, gameplay, and leveling styles, or better yet; give NWN a really nice face lift and better multiplayer server capabilities.  Bring back my old friends or create new ones.  Here’s hoping that Lineage 3 doesn’t suck and that I will finally be over some of the better games by 2011 to be suckered in.  Hell, I might even pay to play.

I was sitting around this morning, listening to the Gym Class Heroes when I got to thinking that blogging about something on a low traffic site like mine, is in many ways, very similar to playing the stock market with out investing too much time in learning about it.  In both cases the person hopes for a good out come.  The blogger hopes the new post will attract attention to his or her site, and the person playing the stock market hopes that whatever new stock they have just gambled on will turn out to be a winner.

However, greater than 90 percent of the time, the post and the stock, does not preform as anticipated.  Why?  Well here are some problems.

The first is that the average blogger/investor is not intelligent enough.  They do not invest enough time in researching the post/stock, they do not check out who has written it before or where the company has been financially.  In most cases, the post/stock has already been over used.  The topic of the post was found, written about, and then “dugg” in a more primitive stage than you have learned about it.  If the topic was a web application, somebody was writing about it in its alpha stage.  If it was music, someone had stolen it and released the bootlegs for everyone three weeks before it came out.  It is the same way with the new stock you want to invest in.  Think about what has really attracted you to the stock?  Has it been all over the news?  Has it been shooting up recently because the company is making huge improvements or has recently merged?  If this is the case, then you’re most likely throwing you’re money away.  Sure you might be able to make some money if you stay in for a brief period of time, and get out right at the peak.  But those who made a killing have been in it from the beginning.

That brings me to the second issue of blogging and playing the stock market.  It IS all who you know.  Big bloggers typically work for big companies or have years upon years of experience in the field they are writing about.  Or if not one of these two, the blogger probably jumped on the bandwagon really early and has a large fan base due to comedic or learned informative value.  But back to the idea of big companies and years of experience.  Because they have either or both of these, the blogger knows people who can provide them with information.  The blogger is networked.  Friends keep him informed about the latest applications, games, gadgets, or whatever, that are coming out, then he or she writes about them.  Or the company that the blogger works for commands enough clout to get the blogger interviews with movers and shakers of the blogger’s writing topic.

The same goes for the ivestor.  The people making the money, reaping the benefits, are those who are in the know.  They are the people who invest for a living or know those who do.  They know about companies before the public does.  They have the opportunity to buy into the company and may choose to do so based on how the company is set up (the system in place) and who is running the company.  The investor educates him/herself about those two ideas, and makes a decision.  They know that once the company is in the limelight, that most of the money to be made is gone.  It is peaking, their money should have been in earlier, and those who buy now will most likely lose money.

In conclusion, blogging and investing are all about your education and who you know.  The more information that can be gathered and turned around the better, and the more contacts you have, also the better.

I recently was surfing through last.fm when I stumbled across this tasty bit of information.  Apparenlty Canada has been working in secret to bring about some new laws that would force internet providers to turn over data with out a court order.  The ACTA also will allow for government agents to inspect any copied material even if it was copied legally.

But this is not just in Canada. “…the new plan would see Canada join other countries, including the United States and members of the European Union, to form an international coalition against copyright infringement.”  My question is not really of why would they want to do this, but how will they pull it off?  There are millions of people out there sharing music online through torrenting, p2p, on hosting sites, et cetera.  Just the other day I found an article on how to turn google into the next napster by using it to search file indexs of mp3’s.

Do the US, Canada and EU have enough man power to actually shut down digital copyright infringement?  I really don’t think so.  Heck I imagine even the people who are working against copyright infringment go home and download a song or two.  Common lets get this worked up about world hunger or something.  Put this energy and devotion to cleaning up the atmosphere or put the money to subsidizing gasoline.  We have bigger problems than who is listening to the music their friend gave them. What if they recorded it off the radio?  Any law against that?

Two new Twitter applications that need to be implemented immediately.

The first should allow you to search your time line by putting in your user name and then a search term or phrase.  It needs to be online based and return you results. I believe I saw a wget form of this written in Ruby that didn’t have a user interface.

The second could be eliminated if the first one is made properly.  A program that archives your tweet time line and allows you to download it.  I believe I saw a version of this in raw python today, but I don’t know how to make it work.

Both ideas could easily be expanded upon by the producers of Twitter or by a third party.  Have a go.

I am really kinda sad right now because I don’t know that I have a good enough portfolio to get me into RIT.  I am going through my stuff and am like crap, I really don’t know what I am doing because I really haven’t had any art classes.  So I was reading the guidelines that are in place and it said page layout.  I guess that means like a website page layout or magazine or newspaper or something.  I have done newspaper and decided real quick that I was going to whip up a magazine cover.  Who better to put on it than myself?

Yeah, I was looking at GQ on ColourLovers.  Get over it.